1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a stowable container made of a flexible sheet such as cardboard, corrugated paper or plastic sheet and, more particularly, to the stowable carton of a type which, when in a stowed condition, represents a generally flat multi-ply structure, but which, when in an erected condition, represents a generally rectangular box-like configuration ready to accommodate therein an object to be stored such as, for example, a plurality of medical bottles or vials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 2-90223, published Jul. 17, 1992, discloses a stowable container made of a flexible sheet of the type referred to above. The stowable container disclosed therein comprises, when in an erected condition, a generally rectangular box of one-piece construction including front and rear side walls that extend parallel to and in face-to-face relation to each other, left-hand and right-hand end walls that extend parallel to and in face-to-face relation to each other, but perpendicular to the front and rear side walls, a top wall hingedly connected to a top edge of the rear side wall and having a tuck flap hinged to a free side edge of the top wall, left-hand and right-hand top dust flaps hingedly connected to respective top edges of the left-hand and right-hand end walls, and a bottom wall. The top wall having the tuck flap is adapted to selectively close and open a rectangular top opening of the box while the bottom wall closes a bottom opening of the box. The left-hand and right-hand top dust flaps are adapted to be folded inwardly of the top wall to partially overlay the top opening of the box when the top opening of the box is closed.
The bottom wall consists of front and rear bottom wall segments hingedly connected with respective bottom edges of the front and rear side walls, and generally triangular left-hand and right-hand bottom flap segments hingedly connected with respective bottom edges of the left-hand and right-hand end walls.
The rectangular box also includes front and rear longitudinal partition walls extend parallel to each other and also to the front and rear side walls, but brought into contact with each other as the stowable carton is erected from a patterned blank of flexible sheet material, and a plurality of transverse partition walls that are spaced an equal distance from each other while extending between each longitudinal partition wall and the adjacent front or rear side wall to define a respective row of bottle chambers for accommodating medical vials.
The stowable carton disclosed in the above mentioned publication has the following problems since, when the erected stowable carton is to be stowed, the front and rear longitudinal partition walls and the associated transverse partition walls integral therewith are displayed sideways relative to each other while the bottom wall segments are buckled inwardly of the box.
a) If each of the bottom wall segments protrude a relatively great distance from a bottom edge of the associated front or rear side wall, the bottom wall segments cannot be satisfactorily accommodated within the box when the carton is stowed, having been interfered by the presence of the front and rear longitudinal partition walls within the box. Therefore, the distance of protrusion of each bottom wall segment from the bottom edge of the associated side wall must be small, the consequence of which is that, when the stowable carton is in the erected condition, the bottom wall segments overlap a small quantity with each other, thereby failing to provide a firm and robust bottom wall.
b) If in order to eliminate the above problem (a) design is made so that the front and rear longitudinal partition walls can be positioned at a relatively high level above the bottom wall when the stowable carton is in the erected condition, a difficulty would be encountered in removing the bottles individually from the box particularly when each bottle has a height lower than the level of the front and rear longitudinal partition walls. This is because the front and rear longitudinal partition walls interfere the access to the bottles.
c) Since no space is provided between the front and rear longitudinal partition walls when the prior art stowable container is in the erected condition, printed matter D such as, for example, a description or a leaflet setting forth information on efficacy, dosage or any other description associated with the contents of each or all of the bottles has to be placed within the box so as to overlay the bottles. When the printed matter is so placed inside the box while overlaying the bottles, and if the user wishes only to ascertain, for example, the number or type of the bottles contained or remaining within the box, the used has to remove the printed matter the first thing before he or she ascertains the number or type of the bottles. In other words, unless the printed matter overlying the bottles is removed, a quick review and/or removal of the individual bottles within the box is not possible.